With over 360 Bootcamp Effect members, I get asked a lot of nutrition questions.
And with all these questions, I’ve come to the conclusion that the biggest thing with nutrition is mindset.
Your mindset.
The type of mindset that for the rest of your life when you get the craving or urge to eat some unhealthy food you ask yourself this question:
“Is the short term satisfaction of this unhealthy food more important than my health and fitness goals?”
Yes, fitness is a lifestyle and IT IS FOR LIFE. We have to rid ourselves of these 12 week plans, getting ready for the summer, looking good for 1 day on a stage or 1 week on vacation. There is no reason why you can’t look good 365 and eat pizza.
Yes, there is absolutely time and place to have pizza on the weekend, but only if you are making conscious choices all week, so that 90% of your choices are healthy and 10% of your choices are unhealthy.
Doesn’t this sound like something you can do and won’t stress you out all the time?
Take this for example, and this has been tested…
You will do better long-term eating good 90% of the time 100% of the time.
instead of…
Eating good 100% of the time 90% of the time.
This is essentially being consistent with being consistent.
There are no quick fixes. No superfoods. No magic fat loss button. It’s a lifestyle change.
We get cravings because we are not eating enough healthy 1 ingredient whole foods like fish, eggs, avocado, chicken…. And if we give in to every urge and craving, we start to lose control, and become more animal than human. We have the ability to reason and think on our feet beyond the capabilities of the rest of the animal kingdom. Let’s be more human.
So how do we get back on track?
It all starts with making a few good decisions, building confidence, and starting off with tackling things we feel confident about.
Here’s 5 nutrition tips to get you started.
Tip 1 – Look at Your Nutrition As 1 Week At A Time
Karen is a huge advocate of this. You can even look at your food as one day at a time. This way if you know you are going to have an unhealthy Saturday, you can eat better during the week or eat less on Sunday to balance out the week. We lose weight weekly, monthly, yearly, not daily. Don’t sabotage yourself if you have a bad day!
Tip 2 – Sweat The Small Things
The small things are adding up all the time! Those chocolate carob chips, however small, may have been eaten everyday this week and added with the latte you had for lunch, oh and that bagel you had because you were in a rush, and…. that’s a few cheats in 1 day and your 10% allocation for the week. Remember 90% of your week is good food (80% of this is healthy food you like and 10% you don’t like but know you need) and 10% is whatever you want.
Tip 3 – Only Eat When It’s Time To Eat
I’ve been delving into this one lately and it’s working like magic. I’ve been eating dramatically less meals and listening to my body even more. For instance, I’m not hungry in the mornings, so have stopped eating in the morning and don’t eat breakfast till around 12pm. Stop forcing yourself to eat when you aren’t hungry! And, let’s be honest, it’s ok to feel a little hunger when you have a fat loss goal…
It may make you feel a little hangry at first, but once your body has gotten used to not being indulged immediately every time it’s hungry, you can eat dramatically less food and still feel full, build muscle, and workout hard.
This fundamental principle will drastically decrease your calorie consumption, and really just supports the tip of don’t just eat because you think you should. Eat because you are hungry.
And when you eat, fill up on healthy proteins, carbs, and fats in your meals and you will dramatically decrease those unhealthy cravings. Our bodies need all of these things. Well, mostly this one…
Tip 4 – Eat Protein Every Time You Eat.
Most people under-eat protein, so you should probably be eating more of it.
Eating massive amounts of protein will:
- Help you lose weight.
- Make you feel full so that you eat less unhealthy food.
- Burn more calories by simply digesting it!
Note: eating large amounts of protein is very low in calories if using the word massive makes you cringe.
Here’s why more protein equals more weight loss.
How we process food is very different, when you eat processed foods some of the work has been done for you already by the processing and processed foods digest very fast. In fact, we absorb more calories through processed food because the absorption rates are higher.
On a hormonal level it is completely different too.
25-30% of the protein you eat is burned digesting it. YOU ARE LITERALLY BURNING CALORIES EATING THE FOOD!
Tip 5 – What Are You Moving For?
Why are you exercising and want to lose weight?
- Is it because of health?
- Is it because of looks?
- Is it because of your kids?
- Your significant other?
- Your athletic performance?
And is that goal less important than giving in to your urges?
That’s what you are telling me when you come into Bootcamp Effect with a weight loss goal and then squander your hard earned workouts with sugary indulgences.
Become more aware of what you are doing.
When you are more aware of your actions, you can begin to do something about it.
Knowing what to eat is the easy part. The hard part is your commitment and doing what you said you would and not breaking that promise to yourself. Just like any habit or skill, the more you do it, the better you get at it.
Committed to your success,
Josh Saunders, BSc, CSCS, PN-1
The Bootcamp Effect
P.s. feel free to comment below if you have any questions on knowing what to eat, etc.
